GRUNDTVIG AND EDUCATION

By Gwen Sarya

Grundtvig’s ambitions to awaken the people of Denmark through the Living Word spread beyond the boundaries of Vartov [the church he was wervingserving] when he began investigating educational options other than those available in Denmark at that time. Wanting to reach out to the common Danish people to create a sense of religious and political liberty, Grundtvig knew the current educational system was inadequate, and he was able to experience a different style of education when he spent two weeks at Trinity College in Cambridge, England, while he was studying old Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. there. He noticed that dialogue between the student and the teacher was valued, and conversations were open-ended allowing for free and unhindered inquiry and resulting in a deep fellowship between teacher and student.

Exploring the use of this teaching style for Denmark, first in his book Scandinavian Mythology and later in lectures, Grundtvig discussed how this form of education could change the Danish people from illiterate to scholarly by offering general education and character formation through the Living Word. In 1838, he published School for Life and the Academy in Soer, which detailed his ideas for a Danish folk high school, underlain by his belief in the harmony of relating cultural activities to one another—through music, dance, games, art, theater, religion, history, language, literature and politics—and his idea that individuals could benefit from recognizing and practicing this harmony. According to Grundtvig, education should not be seen as a set of procedures that can be separated out of culture, but instead should be part of the culture through interaction with it. He believed that individuals would be able to contribute and respond to all the workings of culture only if they were full participants of that culture with an understanding of all it had to offer.

Utilizing the educational style he saw in England, Grundtvig decided that a high school would be the most successful format for teaching young adults (ages eighteen to thirty) rather than children. By young adulthood, he reasoned, people have lived life and are ready to understand the subjects of humanity, country and the Living Word. Children, he believed, would benefit more from being raised in a house of productive adults instead of attending a restrictive school. This alternative "home-schooling" would be more enjoyable for children instead of learning Latin and grammar by rote.

Grundtvig’s folk high school vision embodied four major tenets:

1. Education is a life-long process

2. Education is a holistic activity with historical, cultural, and social context.

3. Our humanity is the first gift of life—in all its particulars—a premise for fulfillment.

4. The Word is central to life. In and through the Word we are aware of and celebrate our Creator, indeed we participate in the ongoing creation.

Using these four ideas as a basis, Grundtvig lectured and inspired many people to make plans for establishing folk high schools based on his ideals.

THE FOLK HIGH SCHOOL MOVEMENT

Grundtvig’s dream of a folk high school became a reality when eighteen farm boys attended one held at a farmhouse in RøÆ dding on November 7, 1844 with the focus of keeping the Danish language and heritage alive in a part of Denmark that was receiving pressure from nearby Germany to speak only German and take on German characteristics. Grundtvig supported the establishment of the school by stating at a public meeting that this high school "could teach the people to treasure and to use their mother tongue and assert their natural right not just to continue to speak Danish but to be spoken to, to be consulted, to be heard and to be indulged, to be ruled and governed in Danish." The RøÆ dding school’s principal, Johan Wegener, made sure the new folk high school adhered to this philosophy and ensured the equality of the peasants with other social groups. Grundtvig himself was never able to visit this first folk high school, but he did follow its development closely and was consulted regarding any new principals that were hired.

Grundtvig’s vision continued to be used as a model for other small, privately funded folk high schools in Denmark, though he suffered a setback when he was unable to secure state funding for them. In spite of this, Grundtvig saw many schools utilize his philosophic tenets of education including a lack of entrance or exit examinations, which entitled everyone to an education regardless of level of education or social status. In addition to the absence of exams, Grundtvig wanted history, the mother tongue, and song to be the three media used in the folk high schools. Teaching history from an organic standpoint instead of presenting it as a list of names and dates, Grundtvig felt, would enable students to use the information to better understand their place in the community, thus making them feel at one with society. Grundtvig held to using Danish instead of Latin or Greek in the classroom because it was the language that students used commonly to communicate and through which they obtained their social heritage—uniting them during a period of strong national sentiment throughout Europe. Choosing song as the third subject, Grundtvig felt strongly that it had the ability to bring people together as a community advocating unity, good humor, and the spirit of harmonious co-operation among the populations of mankind.

Forty-four folk high schools were established across the Danish countryside between 1866 and 1869 that used history, the Danish language, and song at their core. Additional subjects were added to reflect the needs and interests of the student body, including geography, geology, hygiene, arithmetic, physics, folk dancing, and ling gymnastics. Grundtvig toured these schools teaching, leading discussions and telling stories, rekindling interest in the Old Norse myths, many of which Grundtvig collected and wrote down. One of these schools, that of Askov High School, in Askov, Denmark, began working toward U.S. expansion when they began preparing students for clergy and teaching positions in America.